Woman avoids more jail time in veterans home abuse case

A woman convicted of misdemeanor abuse at the Grand Rapids Home for Veterans has avoided additional jail time in the case. Surveillance video showed an employee rolling an 83-year-old man and his wheelchair into a desk in March 2016.

Laurie Botbyl was fired and charged earlier this year with fourth-degree vulnerable adult abuse. Documents showed the man had possible bruises and a skin tear. Botbyl was convicted in August and sentenced Monday to fines, costs and a work program. She was given one day in jail with credit for time that she already served.

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The family of a World War II veteran with dementia who was attacked and died after wandering into another man's room at the Grand Rapids Home for Veterans in 2012 has settled a lawsuit against the state of Michigan. The family of Andrew Ball Jr. will get $544,000 and the state will cover $281,000 in court costs and attorney fees. The 84-year-old man was struck several times in the head after entering another man's room in April 2012. Ball died a few days later.

Grand Rapids Home for Veterans are planning to build a new multi-million dollar, 120-bed facility in 2019 as Governor Rick Snyder approved the overarching plan this month. The plans come after a state audit released in February revealed inadequate staffing levels and a failure to properly investigate allegations of abuse, neglect and inadequate staffing at the home. WGVU spoke with Michigan Veterans Affairs AGency Director James Robert Redford about the new facility and how the agency has responded since the audit's release.

Brand new veterans facilities are planned for Michigan's two largest cities as early as 2019.

A 120-bed facility in Grand Rapids will replace the aging Grand Rapids Home for Veterans, and a similarly-sized facility in Detroit will be a new addition to the state's Department of Military and Veteran Affairs long-term care system.

Wednesday marked the 75th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. For more than a quarter of a century the Grand Rapids Home for Veterans has held a service remembering the men and women who lost their lives, and how the attack changed a nation and the world.

Former Marine Joe Clemens has one final mission—help as many Veterans as he can, while he can.

Clemens, who is diagnosed with terminal Neurotic Idiopathic Angioedema, a rare blood disease, has spent the last 8 years helping homeless veterans, many with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, get back on their feet and re-acclimated to society.

Clemens said the calling on his life to assist other veterans came from his own experience after his service in the Marines had ended.